Bearish news continues to dominate the natural gas market. Last week’s natural gas storage report showed an injection of 9 Bcf, putting total storage at 4,009 Bcf as of November 20th, setting a new all-time record. Two days later, the December contract settled at $2.206 per MMBtu. For CY2015, the natural gas settles averaged $2.664 per MMBtu. This is the lowest annual average the market has experienced this century! Above normal temperatures forecasted for December has continued to place downward pressure on pricing, as January’s first day in the prompt position declined $.087 to settle at $2.212 per MMBtu. Although the market is expected to report its first withdrawal from storage this week, surplus levels are expected to remain 500 Bcf above last year and 300 Bcf above the five-year average, for the next few weeks. Even with a decline in production, the market is heavily focused upon the extremely low heating demand for this time of year and the possibility of storage being near 2.0 Tcf at the end of winter.
